Tamir Rice Cremated 6 Months After He Was Gunned Down By Cop On A Playground

The family of Tamir Rice cremated his body earlier this week, reports The Washington Post, nearly six months after the 12-year-old Cleveland, Ohio youth was shot and killed by a police officer while playing with a toy gun on a playground.

His mother, Samaria, had kept his body in storage at a cost of $75 per day, because she did not want to bury him in case another medical examination was necessary, The Post says.

While the investigation continues, the family made the decision to cremate Tamir after so many months, their attorney Walter Madison tells The Daily Kos. The decision also comes after donations flooded in following media reports about the family’s financial troubles.

“Tamir has been cremated,” said Walter Madison, the Ohio-based attorney working with Rice’s family, who said that the decision was made late last week. “His mother made the grief-stricken decision to have her son cremated.”

The Rice family had been paying to preserve his body, arguing that they did not want Tamir put to final rest until the legal probe of the shooting was complete in case there was a need to conduct an additional medical examination.

“What everyone needs to understand is that Samaria Rice is a mother first,” he said. “Whether in life or death, her instinct is to take care of her child. Him not being put to final rest was just physically, emotionally, psychologically unsettling to her.”

National protests erupted against police brutality after Cleveland officer Timothy Loehmann shot Tamir on November 22, 2014, claiming he thought the child was holding a real gun.

Loehmann fired at the youth less than two seconds after exiting the police cruiser.